With the spread of teleworking and teleworking due to the influence of the new coronavirus, there is a movement to overcome the lack of communication between employees by reforming the office.
The online conferencing system developed by KDDI and others aims to enable employees who are dispersed in remote offices to exchange opinions as if they were in the same office.
The state of the meeting is projected on a wall 2 meters 40 cm long and 4 meters wide with a 4K high-definition image so that the facial expressions of the participants can be understood in detail.
In addition to using AI to determine whether a participant's facial expression is positive, it also analyzes and displays who said to whom and how much.
KDDI's manager Kazuhiko Nakama said, "If the workplaces are dispersed, the problem of commuting will be solved, but communication will continue to have problems. Teamwork will be established by making it possible to work together even if they are far away." I'm talking to you.
On the other hand, there are also companies that utilize AI = artificial intelligence to actively communicate with each other while thoroughly implementing infection prevention measures in the office.
FreeBit, which handles the low-priced smartphone business, now holds down the ratio of employees who go to work in response to a state of emergency to about 30%.
According to the attendance rate decided by the company, the number of seats and layout of the office are changed so as not to be crowded, and from the data of the questionnaire conducted for employees, AI can easily create dialogue between employees. going to decide.
We are also considering introducing a system that measures the distance between employees using a smartphone app and sensors, and immediately notifies the management department when it becomes dense.
FreeBit President Atsuki Ishida said, "We have been working on remote work following last year's pandemic, but new things are no longer born. For safety reasons, we thought we had to redesign the place where people gather." I'm talking.
Lack of communication is an issue
The government is aiming to reduce the number of employees by 70% in areas where a state of emergency has been declared in response to the increase in workplace infections of the new coronavirus.
On the other hand, there are many voices among people who work from home or telework that lack of communication between employees is an issue.
According to a questionnaire survey conducted by Pasona Research Institute in October last year for more than 1,000 people who have worked from home, the question "What are the business issues for smooth work from home?" , 48% of the respondents cited "securing opportunities for team communication", the highest number.
In addition, when asked why the performance of the team actually deteriorated due to working from home, 66% cited "decreased communication within the team", which was the highest.